Modern technology has made it possible for large amounts of information to be gathered from surveillance of a given area of interest. Advances in computers, position-reporting devices, digital communications, and short-range sensors (e.g., laser-range finders, etc.) have made it possible for personnel within the area of interest to provide accurate information concerning the identity and location of an encountered surveillance targets nearly instantaneously. Such short-range sensors, however, generally have difficulty tracking a target. That is a short range sensor, at the time of initial observation, will observe and accurately determine and report a target's location, but is generally ineffective and/or inefficient at continuously updating the location of a moving target as time progresses (i.e., “tracking a target”). This is because the short range sensor has a limited range, which forces it to follow the selected target to the neglect of other assignments. Additionally, following or getting too near a target may be undesirable for other reasons (e.g., would prevent remaining concealed).
Meanwhile, wide-range sensors can be mounted to high-altitude aircraft or orbital satellites to provide a comprehensive view of the area. These sensors can provide continuous updating of a target's position, but generally, view so many targets that it is not always easy to discern which targets are of interest, or easily identify targets (e.g., friend or foe or neutral; type of vehicle; etc.). Furthermore, it is difficult for wide-range sensors to determine a particular function of a target (e.g., enemy reconnaissance team, enemy re-supply team, etc.).
Under the prior state of the art, extraction of useful information from these varying sources has been a difficult process. Different bodies of sensors worked independently, making it difficult to match target data from short-range sensor sources to data from the long-range sensors without significant human intervention. This intervention adds to the expense of collecting data, introduces the possibility of human error, and, most importantly, significantly delays the interpretation and enhancement of the collected data. Since the position of an identified target will change with the period of this delay, it can be difficult to determine the present position of an interesting target once its significance is realized.
The tracking task is further complicated when tracking an uncooperative target. In many tracking applications, a target can cooperate with the tracking systems. For example, in a typical air traffic control application, tracked aircraft will file a flight plan detailing an intended path of flight. Confirmation of the aircraft's identity is provided each time the control system contacts the plane. In other applications, however, the target cannot or will not cooperate with the tracking system. For example, in military and surveillance applications, the target will clearly not be willing to aid in the tracking efforts. Similarly, the target may not have the communications capacity necessary to report its position and identity to a tracking system. When a target's identity cannot be easily confirmed, a target can easily be confused with other targets when the responsibility for tracking the target is passed between tracking systems or the target enters a crowd of other, less interesting targets. Furthermore, the approximate path of the target is not known, making it difficult to determine which tracking system will be responsible for the target.
When dealing with these situations in the past, it has been the duty of human operators to determine meaning from provided location data. The various short-range target sightings are analyzed by a staff of individuals, and remote sensing/tracking resources are allocated to track targets on an ad hoc basis. Amongst other problems, the decision-making staff is faced with the problem of optimizing the allocation of remote sensing/tracking devices to candidate targets, which is complicated because the differing physics bases of the various remote sensing/tracking devices makes each device more or less effective at collecting particular phenomena. Additionally, the number of targets to follow generally significantly exceeds the number of remote sensing/tracking devices available, so multiple targets are assigned to a single remote sensing/tracking system. As the numbers of tracking systems and targets increase, such determinations become increasingly difficult.